


Post Cards

by See_Kay_Write



Series: NaNo17 [4]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: College Student Stiles, Gen, Pre-Slash, Slow Build, Slow Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-10
Updated: 2017-11-10
Packaged: 2019-01-31 09:00:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,271
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12678672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/See_Kay_Write/pseuds/See_Kay_Write
Summary: For a tumblr prompt:“we’ve been pen pals for like hella months and we finally decided to meet up and damn your cute, also did you break up with your jerk bf/gf yet?” auDerek wasn't quite sure what even possessed him to look at the flyer.





	Post Cards

**Author's Note:**

> For day 9 of my NaNo! Got a prompt you'd like me to fill? Leave it in the comments!

 

Derek wasn't quite sure what had made him sign up for the pen pals in the first place.  He found the flyer, small and worn in the corner of the bulletin board by the front door of the grocery store (who even paid attention to those anymore unless you were trying to help a lost or found pet?).

 

'Send a post card to a college student!' The flyer proclaimed.

 

'Everyone loves getting mail, help encourage a college student!' It read, in slightly smaller print.  There was an address listed to send a generic post card to, and slips with the same information to be torn off and taken home and actually used, or, more likely, get stuffed into a pocket, forgotten about, and then thrown away when you can't decipher why you had a random address in your pocket to begin with.

 

In this case, he'd found himself buying a couple blank post cards, some stamps, and taking the time to write (incredibly short, incredibly generic) messages on a couple, stuck them in an envelope, and sent it on to the person or group (he still wasn't entirely sure) collecting them to past on to needy college students trying to avoid their homework by trying to figure out random post cards.

 

Derek wasn't speaking from experience, or anything.

 

Whatever, he'd paid it forward, and figured that would be the end of it.

 

Except… his post card recipient actually wrote back?

 

"Thanks!  I really needed this, too close to finals week!" came a scrawled post card, a picture of the campus, clearly from the campus bookstore.

 

What the hell kind of name was Stiles? 

 

He pondered it absently, sticking the card in the top drawer of his desk and forgetting about it for nearly a week, when he opened it again trying to find his elusive stash of rubber bands (he had to hide them from Cora; he didn't know what she did with them, exactly, but they all disappeared when she'd been in his office) and found it again.  He copied the address to a funny card he'd picked up at the grocery store randomly.

 

He wasn't sure what made him keep sending them.

 

The occasional random post card and greeting card went back and forth for two months, before Stiles had included an email address with the question 'want to save postage?' 

 

And then… 

 

Somedays, Derek would open his email, and find six pages of rant, all clearly typed out at different times of day, depending on what was going on.  Somedays he'd just get a couple lines, lamenting some bad dates or sharing some exciting news or grade or weird thing he'd seen on campus.

 

There were a lot of weird things he'd seen on campus, as it turned out.

 

(There were a lot of not great dates too.)

 

Derek found himself writing back.

 

The line he'd been stuck in because of Drama Over The Price of Grapes.

 

A three page review of the book series he'd just finished reading, and _needing_ to share those feelings with someone.

 

A recipe that looked interesting, but there was no way Laura or Cora would be interested and Derek hated cooking for one.

 

They were emailing at least once a day after six months, and a year in, two or three times.

 

Six months later, texts were added.

 

It should have been awkward, Derek though.  They'd never even met in person, but it was nice.  They worked well as a sounding board for each other, someone invested, but removed from the situation.

 

Derek listened when Stiles nearly failed a major class for his major.  When he found a girlfriend.  When they broke up.  When he found a boyfriend.  When _they_ broke up.

 

Derek wasn't terribly sure about Stiles's taste in partners.

 

Stiles listened when Derek had to fire an employee and felt horrible about it.  And then a second one; and a third one.

 

Stiles wasn't terribly sure about Derek's management abilities.

 

They still exchanged cards, and the occasional letter, and an interesting post card two years on, then three, in addition to the texts and the calls and the emails.

 

Now, Derek held a different sort of card in his hand.

 

An invitation, to a graduation.

 

_I'm pretty sure you kept me sane enough to graduate, you deserve to see it.  You know, if you want.  I'll be the one wearing a black gown (ha ha)_

 

Derek found himself sitting in a crowd of people he didn't know, watching from a distance for someone he hadn't even met yet.  His phone was in his pocket, quiet after he'd already texted Stiles to let him know he was there and then gotten Stiles to promise to not text through the whole ceremony.

 

They would meet afterword.

 

Derek wasn't nervous.  He refused to be.   The ceremony drug on and sped by in equal parts.  Even with the screen to help, seeing Stiles collecting his diploma was too far away, too impersonal.  Derek clapped hard, noting some whistles in another section; 'that's my son!' from a little further back.

 

They'd actually thought ahead, and designated a meeting spot, a little ways out from the same six meeting spots Everyone Else had tried to use.  He fidgeted slightly.  Stiles had to work his way through his dad and some friends before he could meet up, he'd explained the night before.  He'd offered to introduce Derek to everyone right away (they'd all heard about him over the years, they practically knew him already anyway) but Derek had balked.  Physically meeting Stiles was making him nervous enough, without adding on John Stilinski and Scott, and Kira, and Lydia, and…  …and Stiles had a lot of friends, now that he thought about it.

 

Fortunately, Stiles hadn't seemed upset, more relieved.

 

So, one on one first.

 

Was it too late to make this a group thing, Derek wondered suddenly.

 

Just before he got himself worked up enough to bolt, someone cleared his throat, and Derek turned around.  And stared.

 

Oh no. 

 

Why did he have to be so damn attractive?

 

It wasn't that they hadn't exchanged pictures here and there, but pictures never quite did Stiles justice, he was beginning to realize, if only because getting Stiles to stand still long enough to have the picture taken was apparently pretty hard.

 

"Hey," Stiles gave a vaguely awkward wave, shifting from foot to foot when it looked like Derek was taking a little too long to actually say something…

 

"Congratulations," Derek blurted out, thrusting a card at him.

 

Stiles blinked, opened it, and then burst out laughing at the frazzled looking cat proclaiming 'well, you made it' 

 

"Oh man, I love it, thanks!" he beamed.  The card disappeared somewhere under his robe, "I'm really glad you made it."

 

Derek smiled back, "I'm glad _you_ made it, to graduation that is.  It's a big deal."

 

Stiles waved that off, "Okay, look, here's the deal, you're in town for a few days, right?  Dad and Scott want to meet you like burning, so I kinda told them you'd be over for hamburgers at the hotel?  Trying to go out to eat anywhere today isn't going to work."  He gestured at the crowd still milling around, "Everyone else is trying to get out to eat too.  Point is, uh, I know you're a little nervous about that, but it'll be totally low key and I already hid Dad's handcuffs and spot light, so no interrogation or anything."

 

Derek laughed, the nervousness melting away suddenly, "I like hamburgers."

 

"Perfect," Stiles dragged him down the hill toward the blue jeep waiting in the parking lot.


End file.
